


Heartbeat

by FearfulKitten



Series: 3ambird Batfam Bingo [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Robin: Son of Batman (Comics)
Genre: 3ambird Batfam Bingo, Batfamily (DCU), Batfamily (DCU) Feels, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Caring Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne Can't Sleep, Damian Wayne Feels, Damian Wayne Has Issues, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Damian Wayne-centric, Gen, Good Sibling Dick Grayson, Heartbeats, Insomnia, Mentioned Bruce Wayne, Nightmares, Protective Dick Grayson, Tumblr: Batfam Bingo, no beta we die like robins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:00:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27047617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FearfulKitten/pseuds/FearfulKitten
Summary: Damian remembered Jon’s advice. Whenever he had a nightmare, the boy would knock on his parent’s door, and they’d let him sleep there, in the middle of the couple. Jon had told him that it made him feel safe again, and he was able to drift off to sleep once again.However, going to his father's room in the middle of the night simply to ask for help so that he could sleep, a basic function he should never have a problem with in the first place... that is not something Robins do. Right?But maybe... maybe Damian could go to someone who wasn’t Batman. At least not anymore.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne
Series: 3ambird Batfam Bingo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1974109
Comments: 14
Kudos: 257





	Heartbeat

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! So, if you've read some of my other fics, then you might know a good portion of them have been beta'd by @TruthfulDaydreamer. Well, they came up with a Batfam bingo of their own, and I've decided to participate and try to fill the card! You should go check it out if you're a writer, the prompts are great: https://3ambird.tumblr.com/post/630973021385064448/surprise-i-made-a-prompt-bingo-card-ill-be  
> This also means that my works for this collection will most likely be unbeta'd, so please be patient with me if there are some weird sentences or whatever. English is not my first language and I can't always tell when I'm not making much sense, hahaha!  
> Anyways, thank you for clicking my work and I hope you enjoy it!

Damian lifted himself from his bed. He was tired. His eyes were sore and red, feeling dry from being awake for so long. And yet, he couldn’t sleep. Every time he closed his eyes awful scenes unfolded behind his eyelids, awful memories took over his brain, and he couldn’t understand why they wouldn't go away. Damian felt so tired, yet he couldn’t rest.

He remembered Jon’s advice. Whenever he had a nightmare, the boy would knock on his parent’s door, and they’d let him sleep there, in the middle of the couple. Jon had told him that it made him feel safe again, and he was able to drift off to sleep once again.

However, as much as he thought the boy was trying to help, Damian felt as if the advice couldn’t really do anything for him right now. The last thing he would want to do is showing his father just how weak he felt. He wanted Bruce to be proud of him, not pity him. Damian would sooner die than let his father think he’s not ready for the Robin mantle, and going to his room in the middle of the night simply to ask for help so that he could sleep, a basic function he should never have a problem with in the first place... that is not something Robins do. Right?

Robins are meant to help Batman. Not disturb him over every little hiccup in their lives.

So there he lay, awake, trying to count imaginary sheeps for the hundredth time that night, nearly crying in frustration and anger when his brain insisted on bringing up another horrible fantasy. Or maybe it was a memory. He wasn’t able to distinguish it anymore, not really.

This isn’t working.

Maybe he  _ should _ go to his father’s room after all. Maybe Bruce wouldn’t be so disappointed. Maybe... maybe Batman wouldn’t mind it all that much.

But maybe... maybe Damian could go to someone who wasn’t Batman. At least not anymore. Someone he had been actually missing during patrols. That plan seemed safer. Even if there was disappointment, at least this one wouldn’t be able to take the mantle from him, right? And after all, this one never really seems to be too disappointed in him anyways. So he slid out of bed, tip toeing around the manor’s cold floor, and knocked on his brother’s door.

“Richard.” He whispers, opening it little by little “Are you awake?”

“I am now...” He grumbles, sitting up “What’s wrong, Dami?” He asked, no harshness in his voice.

“I... couldn’t sleep.” He answers from the door, hands behind his back “I thought it best to ask for help. Just this once.”

“Dami, you can always ask for help.” Dick smiled, voice still low and raspy from having just woken up.

“Can I... sleep here then?” He bit his lips.

“Of course you can.” Dick pushes the covers down a little “Come here, baby bird.”

Damian takes slow, scared steps towards the bed. He felt awkward, like he shouldn’t be there, like he was taking up way too much space in the other’s room. He sat down, back turned to Dick, regretting his decision already.

“Dami, come here.” Dick insists “You can lay down, it’s fine.”

“I don’t wish to be a hassle.” Damian swallows harshly, nervous.

“You’re not a hassle, baby bird.” Dick smiled, reaching out to scratch his back, and the boy straightened his posture “C’mon. It’ll be just like those days when we cuddle on the couch, watching a movie.”

Damian slowly let his body fall on the bed, still wary, still worried. Dick pulled him closer, and the boy just allowed himself to be hugged. He could feel his older brother’s heart beating against his back. Damian always knew he was more sensitive to noises and tremors than others, so he wondered whether this was normal or not. Regardless, it felt nice; even if it wasn’t normal, it didn’t really matter.

“Wanna talk about it?” Dick whispers, and the vibrations his voice sent to his chest reached Damians little body. It made him feel comfortable. He didn’t want to talk all that much, but he really wanted Dick to speak.

“I... I couldn’t sleep. Too many thoughts kept racing through my mind, too many horrible memories being brought up again and again.” He swallowed “It’s been happening for a while.”

“Yeah, I understand.” Dick says “I get like that too sometimes. When we live the way we do, it’s not rare for that to happen.”

“How... how do you deal with it?” Damian asks, a little afraid to move.

“Well,” Dick starts “I try my best to focus on something tangible. Something I can see, or feel. Sometimes, I count tiles. Sometimes I describe the way my bed sheets feel under my skin. Sometimes I list every part of my body, focusing on my breathing.” He sighs and adjusts his body on the bed, pulling Damian impossibly closer to his chest “Of course, it doesn’t always work, but... we have to try, right?”

“I tried counting sheep.” Damian confessed “But it didn’t work.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t work for me either.” Dick says “I need something that’s undoubtedly there, otherwise my mind wanders into dark places again. Maybe that’s what’s going on with you too.”

“I see.”

Dick’s hands slowly move up and down Damian’s forearms, sending chills up to Damian’s shoulder. It feels nice. His brother kisses the top of his head, and keeps bringing him closer.

“Can you...” Damian swallows “Keep talking?”

“Sure.” Dick smiles “What should I talk about?”

“That is not important.”

“I could tell you a bedtime story.” Dick says “Or sing you a lullaby. I don’t know many, but I can sing pop songs quietly too.” He laughs a little.

“It does not matter. I just... like the vibrations.” He admits.

“Hm.” Dick ponders “Okay. I’ll tell you a story then. Once upon a time, in a little village, next to a forest...” Dick tells him the little red riding hood story, and when he finishes, he starts it over. Damian falls asleep after the second time the little girl had been tricked by the wolf.

Dick drifts off soon after that. Holding Damian felt like sleeping with a giant teddy bear that radiates warmth and could kill you in the blink of an eye. It made him feel safe too. However, in the middle of the night, Dick is woken up by Damian’s movements and whines. The boy’s entire body was tensed up and he murmured what Dick could only translate as little ‘no’s of despair.

“...F’ther d’nt...no...pleas’...J’n stop...” He tossed and turned in Dick’s arms. Dick wanted to wake him, but the man was very unsure on what to do until Damian shot awake, sitting up, gasping for air, covered in sweat.

“Hey, hey, I’m here Dami, I’m here. You’re safe.” Dick sat up too, placing a hand on his brother’s back. Damian immediately broke down sobbing. Dick shielded him from the world with his body “Shh... It’s okay. You’re safe now. I’m not going anywhere. Just breathe. That’s it. Breathe.”

Dick rubbed his brother’s back until the sobs stopped, until Damian’s breathing was mostly back to normal. The boy then turned around, hugging Dick, hiding his face away in the other’s chest. None of them said anything; they didn’t have to. Dick understood that the hug was both a thank you and a request for protection, and Damian knew his brother would protect him regardless of whether or not he’d request it.

Slowly, Dick managed to lay Damian down again, pulling him on top of his chest as he made little calming noises to the boy, rubbing his arms and body to warm him up and make sure that he felt safe again. Damian’s tears stopped coming. Dick didn’t ask about the nightmare, and Damian was thankful for that, closing his eyes as he pressed his ear against the man’s chest, feeling it rise and fall, listening to his brother’s heartbeat as he drifted off again, this time to the sound of Dick humming a melody he didn’t recognize.

Of course, Damian woke up twice more during the night, and both times Dick woke up with him, holding him and telling him that he was safe. There was no harsh tone in his voice, no anger or resentment from being woken up, and Damian couldn’t help but feel guilty that he had taken so much of his rest away from him.

In the morning, Dick woke up first, looking down at the young boy laying on his chest and playing with his hair softly so as to not wake him up. When Damian woke up, he blinked up at him slowly, feeling his hair being softly brushed by his brother’s fingers.

“Hey there Dami.” He smiles “Did you sleep well?”

Damian swallowed. He had slept well, better than he had in ages, but had his brother?

“Yes.” He answers “Did you?”

“Like a baby.” Damian knew that wasn’t true, with the amount of times he had been woken up due to nightmares that weren’t even  _ his _ . He frowned, feeling as if he was being mocked, and Dick noticed the change in his brother’s face “What’s wrong?”

“There is no need to mock me, Richard.” He says, rolling away from his brother, hiding his teary eyes “I am well aware of how difficult your night was.”

“What?” Dick asks “Difficult?”

“I did not wish to be a hassle, and yet you were woken up three times through the night,” He grits his teeth “Because of me.”

“What are you talking about, Dami?” Dick reached a hand out, pressing his palm on his brother’s back.

“I’m sorry, okay?!” He bursted, finally looking at his brother again, tears threatening to fall out “I’m sorry for behaving like a baby! I am sorry! I should have never bothered you in the first place.” Dick stared at him for a moment, and Damian sniffled and wiped some of the said tears.

The man surged forward, bringing Damian down against his chest again, holding him there.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Dami.” He kissed the top of his brother’s head. Damian could hear his heartbeat again, steady and strong, exactly like Richard himself “I wasn’t mocking you, I’m sorry that it sounded like I was. I  _ did _ sleep well. I liked having you here, and you’re welcome to come back anytime you need to.” Damian listened to his heartbeat intently while he talked, looking for lies. But there weren’t any. Dick was telling him the truth; his unfaltering heart left no doubt in the boy’s mind. He relaxed into his arms again, silently crying against his chest.

“Thank you.” He whispers against the man’s chest “Thank you, brother.”

“Don’t mention it, Dami.” He kissed the boy’s head once again.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! I hope you enjoyed reading it, and feel free to let me know what you think in the comments. If you did enjoy it, and you want to request me anything, or just say hello, feel free to do so at my tumblr, @fearfulkittenwrites. Or, you can come talk to me at my personal account, @fearful-kitten01. I'd love to get to know you!
> 
> Thank you for reading, stay safe and healthy out there friends. I love you all <3


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